Poultry neck breaker machines and methods are known from European patent application EP-A-1 728 433 and from U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,534.
According to EP-A-1 728 433, a curved breaker device is applied that is rotatable around a point of fixation which can be leveled to a position corresponding with a desired plane of impact of the breaker device to the neck of the poultry. A backplate external to the poultry is provided as its support during operation of the breaker device.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,534 a carriage is proposed for three blades that each operate as breaking device for a poultry's neck. Accordingly, three poultry necks can be broken at the same time. Upon activation, the three blades are rammed towards the poultry necks. Underneath the blades, V-shaped neck guide bars are provided that become operational after the poultry necks are positioned with rotatable guide bars extending across a trough along with the poultry necks that are to be broken are conveyed. The carriage includes three backing plates to provide support to the poultry necks during ramming of the three blades.
Although the technology of breaking the neck of poultry is long existing, there is an everlasting need to improve its reliability and accuracy. It is a first object of the invention to answer to this need.
A further object of the invention is to harvest poultry necks as complete as possible and to improve the yield in comparison with existing methods. In this connection it is noteworthy to mention that the monetary value of completely harvested necks of a particular weight is higher than incompletely harvested necks of the same weight.
It is still a further object of the invention to harvest poultry necks while the poultry carcasses incur as little damage as possible, therewith improving the attractiveness of those carcasses.